Violets in Vegas: Man in Black
by the morrighan
Summary: Detective John Sheppard rushes to save the world...and to save the woman he loves from a heinous fate.
1. Chapter 1

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black

_It was a race now. A sudden race against time. All I knew was that I had to save Moira. I couldn't let anything happen to her. It was all because of me, again. Another woman would die because of my negligence, because of my stupidity unless I could get to her in time. A woman who had captured my heart, although I had never told her, was now in danger because of me. I had to shove all those emotion aside, all the guilt and fear and horror and just get there in time._

_I had to get there in time…_

**6:45pm**

"No! Damn it, I have to go alone!" Detective John Sheppard declared, stomping to his car.

"No, John! I am coming with you whether you like it or not! You can't face Todd alone and Moira may need medical attention! Use your common sense, man!" Carson Beckett was just as irate, just as worried.

John whirled, tempted to deck the doctor but he paused, thinking. "Fine. You take your car and stay well behind me! Got it? And don't interfere until there's a need! You still got that gun?"

"Aye, I have it. Let's go, then. Where are we going, exactly?"

"Just follow me!"

"And what about Richard? We just can't leave him there! He's got a serious cut and several bruises not to mention a possible concussion and—"

"Shit." John dialed, lifted the phone to his hear. "Who's this?" he snapped, hearing an unfamiliar voice. "Listen up, Sennet. This is Detective Sheppard. I've got an injured man at 21 Wind Chime Lane. Get here STAT and get him to a hospital. He's a witness in a kidnapping. And Sennet, don't delay or it will be farewell to harry for ya!"

Carson stared a moment, finding the last phrase odd, but he said, "care to tell me where we are going or should I just guess?"

"Just follow me!" John glanced at his watch as he got into his car. He glanced at the sky, stared a moment. Through the haze of smoke and the sparkling auroras he could make out the full moon. It appeared serene, a pale gem rising above the mess as the sun began to set. He peeled out of the street, driving as fast as he could through the residential areas. He thumbed his phone. "McKay!"

Rodney McKay was kneeling on the floor of the lobby. He plugged in the device he had created. It emitted a low hum. A light blinked. Rodney smiled, grabbing his phone as it rang. "There. This will interrupt the signal and buy us some time. I added an interface from Genii Industries."

"Genii who?" Evan asked. For some reason he didn't like the name.

"Genii Industries. They're a cutting edge company on new technologies. A little shady but what tech company isn't these days? Anyway it should boost the life of this thing and interfere with the signal, buying us more than enough time to reach it and shut it off for good."

Evan Lorne nodded, glancing round. "Good because we're about to get company!" He hefted his P90 and shoved Rodney behind the abandoned counter.

"What? What…Sheppard? Sheppard, we're under fire and—" A burst of P90 bullets cut off Rodney and he crouched as Evan sprayed a covering fire.

"McKay, are you sure about that eclipse? The moon looks fine to me!"

"What? The lunar eclipse is tonight, but it won't be visible in America! It's a central—"

"Don't care! I'll be there ASAP!"

"Sheppard? Sheppard!" Rodney swore as the call ended. He yanked out his own gun, slung the backpack over his shoulder. "We have to get going now!"

"Ya think?" Evan quipped, ducking down next to Rodney. He peered round as the lobby was filling with yelling people brandishing weapons. "Shit! Get ready to run for the elevators!"

"Are you crazy? They're way over there!"

"That's why I said run! Run!" Evan sprang up, peppering the advancing line with gunfire. He didn't like firing on civilians, had in fact refused to do so when he had been in the Air Force. But this was a different situation and these people were all too happy to fire on him. He risked a glance to see Rodney in a crouching run for the elevator doors. "Go, go, go!"

Evan followed, running backwards but he suddenly stopped firing as more gunfire erupted. This time it was behind the mob. Rodney was pushing the button frantically and the elevator was coming. Pleasantly chiming on its way down to them.

"Cease fire, major!"

"Caldwell!" Evan breathed a sigh of relief as the older man appeared, bearing a large Wraith stunner in his arms. A brace of men were at his back, all similarly armed and clad in TAC vests and camo gear. Their boots clomped on the floor as they advanced.

"Go! We've got your six! There could be more above us, though. Weir's started a floor by floor sweep but you need to get to the top now." The lights flickered and the men glanced up at the fixtures. Rodney eyed the machine but it was still working. Still humming, it's little light blinking happily.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Rodney stepped in, pulling Evan with him. The doors closed. Rodney pressed the button and the two men began the long ride up to the very top of the observatory.

John floored it. He pressed his foot to the gas pedal and the car sped along the roads. Every time it hit a bump it flew up into the air but John didn't slow, not a moment. The desert sped by him, waves of brown and olive as the sun was beginning a lazy descent behind the hills. The sky was a firework of orange and purple. The moon could be seen through the murk, but the shape of the eclipse was all wrong and John wondered at it. He wondered if Rodney had been mistaken. If he wasn't that meant something else was obstructing the view of the moon. It wasn't a comforting thought.

Something about the moon was bothering him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He wasn't an astronomer, but a pilot, or rather he had been one and something in the sky wasn't right. Apart from the auroras and the smoke and the sudden early sunset something was amiss. He frowned, not able to figure it out just yet. He had more immediate concerns.

There wasn't time for stargazing.

He glanced into his rearview mirror. He could just make out Carson's battered vehicle following at a slower pace. Keeping a good distance as John had ordered. Despite wanting to go alone he was glad of the doctor's presence, in case Moira had been injured. Or worse. John tried not to imagine the worse and concentrated on his driving. The car's headlights shot amber beams along the dirty road. Illuminating his destination.

A coyote ran across the road. John almost hit it but the animal ran quickly. The car's headlights played across its gray fur and lanky form before it was gone. John's heart was racing, but not from the near collision. All too well he could imagine what Todd had done to Moira to get that taste of her. All too tell he knew what she had endured, however briefly.

He vowed she would not endure anything worse. As he had.

He forced himself to be calm. To think rationally and to eliminate all emotions. He needed to figure out the best approach. He debated whether or not Todd was alone. He knew that several men had snatched Moira out of her home, and probably they would still be with Todd. Perhaps to ambush him once he arrived. Unless Todd's hubris deemed them unnecessary and he expected to handle John all by himself.

John hoped the space alien was that arrogant.

John needed to figure out the best way to get Moira to safety and out of Todd's clutches. He knew she was bait. He knew she would be collateral damage to Todd, as she wasn't his main objective. John was his main objective.

John considered how to get Moira to safety and then, only then could be relish the deed he had wanted to do since day one. The thing he had been longing to do ever since he had first laid eyes on this space alien. Ever since he had heard it say his name in such savoring, musical tones. Ever since the alien had taunted him with poetry and riddles and then with dead bodies littered around the city. Around his city like so much trash.

John knew exactly what he had to do. He was anticipating it, actually.

He would kill Todd.


	2. Chapter 2

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black2

_I knew I should have been more concerned about the end of the world. I knew I should have been more concerned hearing gunfire as Rodney spoke to me. It was all up to him now, and Lorne, and the teams to save the day and stop that energy beam ripping into the rift and opening the door to allow the Wraith to invade our reality. _

_But all I could think of was Moira._

**7:15pm**

The elevator was slow. Rising steadily, smoothly as it traversed the great height of the Stratosphere's observatory. Some horribly insipid muzak was playing. A sweet easy-listening tune that was wholly inappropriate to the situation. The music, such as it was began to grate on Evan's nerves as he clutched his P90 and watched the floors go by on the LED display. What was worse, however, was the noise coming from his companion.

Rodney caught the incredulous expression of the man next to him. "What?" he snapped.

"You were humming," Evan accused.

"I was? Oh, I was. I can't help it! I hum when I'm nervous." He shifted the backpack on his shoulder. He glanced at his watch, fiddling with the settings. The lights flickered. The elevator seemed to pause then resumed motion. "Oh oh."

"Oh oh? Rodney?"

Rodney suddenly hit a button, stopping the elevator. The doors opened jerkily. "Get out!"

"What? This isn't even our floor? What are you—" Evan found himself pushed out of the elevator. Rodney was on his heels, whirling as the doors shut.

The lights went out, plunging the two men into sudden darkness. Silence. Stillness.

"Shit," Evan commented. He shone his P90 light along the corridor. "How did you—"

"Timer on my watch. I'm afraid the signal is no longer being interrupted. The device is now draining the Stratosphere of all power. We could have been trapped in there, and trust me, you do not want to be trapped in a small space with me for any length of time."

"Thanks." Evan frowned. "I thought we'd have more time."

"Me too, which means one of three things. The Genii interface failed, which is quite possible given their rather slapdash assembly that I didn't oversee. Or something happened to the machine itself, such as being shot or damaged or even unplugged."

"And the third?" Evan asked, beginning to head for the stairs.

Rodney followed. "Todd's device is amassing so much power so quickly that it overrode the machine and can't be stopped."

"Wonderful," Evan muttered under his breath. "Up we go. Five flights of stairs with possible hostiles at the top."

"Just another Sunday," Rodney quipped.

John slowed the car. Landmarks were indistinguishable in the murky darkness, but he knew he was near the place. The area in the desert near some older power lines. The place where he had tracked that first Wraith to its lair.

The place where he had died. The place where everything had ended.

Until Rodney had intervened and saved John's life in a most heinous but necessary fashion.

John licked his lips, gaze darting along the shadowy scrub. There was nothing out here now, but he knew there was a crater a few yards away, left by the terrific explosion that had torn the Silver Bullet trailer and the Wraith to pieces. Abandoned trucks and plows were parked closer to the road. The development had been put on hold because of funding problems. It was the place where he had met Moira. An excavation that had uncovered prehistoric fossils. And a body. A victim of one of the Wraith still on the loose.

This was where the whole thing had started. John vowed it would end here.

He pulled the car off the road, parked and just sat. Thinking. Plotting. Somewhere out there was Moira. And Todd. Both waiting for him. Along with the men who had taken Moira. He was certain of that. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, mind working furiously, all the while being very aware of the seconds ticking, ticking.

He got out of the car. Started walking across the desert sands, his arms at his sides.

Moira was kneeling on the hard ground. She knew she should move, should stand and run but it was too much of an effort still. Even that brief feeding had drained her and only now was she beginning to regain full feeling in her extremities. She looked at Todd but he was staring past her now. With a gesture he had sent his minions into the desert. Which could only mean one thing.

John was on his way.

She struggled to her feet, the impetus not her own safety but John's. She knew she was the bait in the trap and hated that feeling. She staggered, became still to regain her balance. She stared up at the sky. Sunset was a haze in the distance. The glowering ball of gold was obscured by the auroras dancing with fiendish delight. Hues of orange and purple dominating. The moon was a pale orb in the sky, full but obscured, and Moira wondered about the eclipse.

The sky was breathtaking. Beautiful, like one of Evan's oil paintings but something wasn't right and she tilted her head up to view the dark expanse above her. She realized what it was.

There were no stars.

Out here in the middle of the desert, far from the city lights of Vegas the sky should be spangled with stars. But the darkening sky was denuded of them. Only the auroras sparkled in waves of color. Moira squinted and could make out a brief trail in the distance, bits of debris that were nearly impossible to see without a telescope. But a noise made her look in front of her.

Todd smiled at her. His alien face was vaguely human. Fascinating in its way, with the tattoo whirls on his pale, pale skin. The many sharp teeth in that angular jaw. The slits on his cheeks. His yellow eyes were like a cat's, the pupils widening vertically to allow him to see clearly in the darkness. His long braided hair draped along his clothes. Long fingers ended in long, sharp nails that were almost claws and painted an incongruous gold.

"Yes," he intoned, his melodic voice rising and falling with breathy anticipation. "He is coming for you. He will witness your death, and then I will taste his despair, his defiance to the very last drop. And then I will feed on him."

"No." Moira was horrified at the utter glee in the alien's eyes. The almost fervent anticipation. She turned, tried to run but Todd caught her arm, spun her round and threw her to the ground. She cried out, protecting her abdomen and rolling onto her side. She looked up to see Todd towering over her, his feeding hand extended. The sucker was protruding, a terrible extension of fleshy lips that sent a shiver up her spine. It made her feel sick.

"Soon, human. Soon I will take your life. Soon I will take everything from John Sheppard. His mate. His offspring. And then his planet. And then, only then…his life." Todd sighed, as if saddened at the thought, at the inevitability of it all.

Moira stared, aghast. She touched her abdomen, wondering how in the world Todd knew about the baby. John still didn't know, and Moira realized that he never would. He couldn't. She felt tears burn behind her eyes, but bit her lower lip, refusing them.

Refusing the despair that threatened to engulf her.

Refusing the despair over losing the life of the child within her.

Refusing the despair over losing her own life.

Refusing the despair over being the cause of John's possible suffering and death at the hands of this Wraith.


	3. Chapter 3

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black3

_I felt a weird sense of déjà vu, being in this place and facing the same kind of creature. Again the fate of the world seemed to hinge on my actions, however futile they might seem at the time. Except now I held the fate of Moira in my hands, and that was more precious to me than anything. I had to steel myself against it, against her. Block those emotional vulnerabilities and be able to act with a coldly calculating cleverness that would get both of us out of this alive._

_I failed. I couldn't steel myself against what Todd did to her._

**7:20pm**

John got out of the car. A blast of hot wind hit him, a gust that nearly knocked him off his feet. It blew harshly against him as he walked along the desert, flapping his black jacket to either side of him, ruffling his hair and his white shirt. It was quiet. Empty. Desolate.

Shadows ran across the ground as the sun set behind the hills. But the sky was illuminated by the dancing auroras. Orange and purple shades gave off a wavy light so he could still see a few feet in front of him. He could see the scrub and the dirt devils whisked up by the wind. He could see the large tumbleweeds rolling across his path. He could see the darkness beyond where the excavation site was. He headed the other way, towards the crater created by the explosion.

"Todd!" he called. The wind took his gruff voice and threw it along the hot air. "Todd, I'm here! Let her go! Todd, I'm calling you out!" His fingers played on the butt of his gun, holstered at his thigh. He felt not unlike a Western gunslinger of old, preparing to settle a score. But this wasn't a Western, this wasn't a movie, and he deliberately displayed the gun knowing it would be taken from him. That way he hoped they would miss the knife tucked at his back.

Noises alerted him and he whirled to see a sudden group of men emerge from the darkness. They grabbed him, began to hit him as they dragged him. "Hey! I wanna go with you assholes! Hey! Fuck this!" John tried not to fight but he couldn't help it. He decked a few, if only to even the odds and they returned the hits in kind. Churning with an odd frenzy that John had seen only in fanatic followers of homicidal cult leaders.

John got pissed and began to fight for real, wondering if these nut jobs would forget that Todd surely wanted him alive and mostly in one piece. "Fuck off! Todd, I'm coming for you!" he shouted, decking one man but a fist slammed into his jaw and sent him spinning. He spit blood, feeling their hands on him, grabbing the gun but neglecting the knife. They grabbed him, dragged him across the dark desert.

It was a less than heroic entrance but it would serve John's needs for now.

He smiled.

Rodney stopped. He clutched at the banister tightly, breathing heavily. He stared up at the door as Evan moved to it. Rodney looked back down the flight of stairs, relieved they had at last reached their destination, but too out of breath to say so. He grimaced, shouldered the backpack and moved to Evan.

"Easy, now. It looks clear, but looks can be deceiving." Evan eased open the door, P90 raised. He stepped into the lobby, gestured for Rodney to follow. Quickly the men entered the circular observatory but whirled as gunfire alerted them that they weren't alone. "Shit! Go, go, go"! Evan shoved Rodney into the center of the room where a device was humming on a console. He returned fire, slamming the door shut. He locked it. "This won't hold forever!"

"I only need five minutes! Okay, maybe ten!" Rodney rushed to the device. It was glowing in the dark. A strange amalgamation of Wraith and Earth technologies combined. To the physicist's amazement it was growing. Long brown tendrils were overtaking the console, the entire room. Climbing up the glass windows and reaching the ceiling. "Shit! It's seeking to insulate itself against the coming power surge! We haven't much time!"

"Then get to it!" Evan snapped, shoving a table across the door. Men were pounding on it now, shouting in vicious fury. He glanced around the room, but it was not defensible. It was surrounded by glass windows. A few telescopes were positioned along them. The spire was on the roof, pointing like a finger into the colorful sky.

Rodney moved to his hands and knees. He snatched a flashlight from his backpack, shone it on the device and then along the vines. Trying to find the cord that was connecting it to the outlet that was draining the hotel/casino of all power. That would soon drain the whole block, then the whole city unless Rodney could stop it.

Evan circled, glancing out the windows. The lights of Vegas were glittering gems this far up in the air, but still visible. It was like a blanket of Christmas lights far below him. He glanced out towards the horizon where the sun was setting. The sky was dark but lit with orange and purple waves of light. He couldn't see the moon. He returned to his position near the door. It was still being hammered. Evan checked his ammunition. He was running low. It would have to be enough. "Rodney, come on!"

Rodney muttered something rude, unintelligible as he crawled along the floor. He had found the cord and was following it through a maze of other cords and vines and they were all melded together in some horrific wedding of organic and man-made substances. He touched a clump of vines, cried out as a spark shocked him. "Don't touch any of it! It's electrified!" he said, raising his voice as the humming was becoming louder and louder. Faster and faster as the device sucked more power. It was preparing to emit a pure beam of matter and still Rodney hadn't found the interface much less the outlet.

Evan stared as the brown vines seemed to glow with power. "Don't worry. I wasn't going to touch it! Hurry up, would ya? I'm not a scientist but even I can tell its accumulating power way too fast! Just pull the damn plug!"

"I told you I can't just pull the damn plug! Unless you want to wipe out half of Nevada with it! I can try to disable it but it's going to take time! Just keep those damn sympathizers outta here!" Rodney ordered, scrambling along the floor.

Evan glanced round again. Whatever this thing was it was alive, in a way. Oddly organic as the vines twitched and spread along the walls. And all the vines and all that power were heading in one direction.

Up towards the spire.

Up towards the rift in space/time.

Moira jerked round, hearing the scuffle. Hearing John's shouting, his anger and defiance. She heard the men shouting, the fighting and she clasped her hands together tightly. Suddenly she whirled and began to run. If she wasn't here John could act freely, could defend himself and get away without worrying about her.

She ran towards the darkness, veering round scrub and rocks. If she could just get away then everything would be fine. If she could just get away then she wouldn't be a pawn in this personal desire for revenge. She ran with the wind at her back and it pushed her along like a giant hand shoving, shoving her to safety. But it wasn't enough to elude the Wraith.

She cried out as a hand snatched the back of her shirt and yanked her backwards. She fell, choking until the grip relaxed. She staggered to her feet but was pushed down again as Todd kept an iron hand on her shoulder. "No! Fuck you! Fuck you!"

"Not yet, not yet," he soothed with a smile. His eyes glittered with pure malice. He turned his head as the men were coming into view, dragging John among them like so much riff-raff. The wind blew hotly, fluttering Todd's hair and he flexed his gold nails, anticipating. Already the sucker in his palm was extending, eager to feed on all that defiance and anger.

Todd would wait, however. He wanted the taste of despair first. He wanted to crush John Sheppard and then take his fill.

First he would drain the female. She would make a suitable appetizer before the main course.

The main course he had been wanting since day one.

John Sheppard.


	4. Chapter 4

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black4

_I didn't have a plan, not really. I was making it up as I went along, flying by the seat of my pants, as usual. That was the way I used to gamble, keeping my cards close to my chest and then suddenly taking a chance on a low hand to win or to lose, throwing all that I had into the pot. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. _

_I only hoped that this was one of the times when it did work._

**7:25pm**

Moira gasped, trying to move to her feet again but Todd's hand was locked on her shoulder, pinning her on her knees. His grasp was painful, an iron vise that was cutting into her flesh. The pain was nothing compared to the way her heart lurched when she caught sight of John. He was being dragged towards them, shoes leaving a trail in the dirt. He looked battered, beaten and bloody. She felt tears knowing she was the cause.

John was unceremoniously dumped a few feet from Moira. He blinked, playing more hurt than he actually was. He met her gaze as he was hauled to his knees. He stared, his gaze locked with hers, trying to project confidence, and assurance in his green eyes. Even as he could see she was in pain, she was worried, she was afraid and all of that emotion was mainly for him, not for herself. "Let her go, Todd," he snarled. "I'm here now. You don't need her anymore."

Todd looked at him. Smiled, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth. "John Sheppard," he drawled, his tone sending a shiver up John's back. "How does it feel?" John was silent. Unresponsive. His gaze locked with Moira's. There was blood at the corner of her mouth and he felt a surge of anger, but quelled it. Buried it for later usage. It wouldn't help him now. "How does it feel to lose everything?"

"Been there. Done that. Survived." John struggled but the men kept him in place. "I'm here now, Todd. Call off your goons and let her go. It can just be you and me. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"Yes, oh yes," Todd purred, making John feel extremely uncomfortable. "I will end you, John Sheppard. I will, how do you humans of this planet say it? Ah yes. I will own you."

John grimaced. "I told you, buddy, I don't swing that way." He inclined his head to the left. A small motion but Moira's gaze was locked on John and she saw it. She nodded almost imperceptibly. John shifted as the men's hold on him loosened a little. They were all staring at Todd, awaiting his commands.

Todd freed Moira's shoulder, shoving her to the ground. She blocked her fall with her arms, still landing hard. At least the pain in her shoulder was finally gone. She lifted to see the Wraith strolling towards John. She stumbled to her feet. Slowly, so slowly began to back away from the group.

"John Sheppard," he said in a fond tone. But he snarled and grabbed John by the throat under the jaw. Squeezing as he lifted John off his knees. He leaned close to speak into the struggling man's ear. "I will destroy you piece by piece by piece."

John couldn't breathe. The men had freed him and he was prying at Todd's iron grip. The gold nail polish glittered in his eyes and he found it both humorous and fitting, to die like this, the life squeezed out of him by some crazy bisexual space alien. "Moira, run!" he croaked as his vision blurred to a bitter blackness, and he relaxed, knowing at least that she had gotten away.

He suddenly noticed there wasn't a single star in the sky.

"Rodney! Any time now!" Evan shouted, as the door was being pummeled by the many fists of the mob outside of it. The wood was starting to splinter. The table wouldn't hold them back forever and Evan checked his remaining ammo. It wasn't enough.

"I'm trying!" Rodney scooted along the console to the wall. "Ah ha! Got you!" Gingerly he fingered the cord and vines and drew away suddenly as he stared at the wall socket. Or what had been the wall socket. Now it was a living thing, pulsing with energy as it fed and fed the device. "Shit! This won't work!" He hauled his backpack off his shoulder. Dug around and produced a few tools. He slung it back onto his shoulder. "Hold 'em off! I'm going to try to interrupt the signal with an Ancient interface crystal which should fry the matter stream to the—"

"Don't explain it! Just do it!" Evan reprimanded as the table shook. He braced himself, fired a few rounds. Shouts of pain and rage momentarily spared the door and silenced the pounding.

Rodney carefully attached the crystal shard. He wired it to a small laptop and began to issue commands. "Just a few more seconds! If I go too fast the circuits will be fried and I have to override the command codes and my Wraith is not up to specs!"

"Shit!" The door was breaking apart as a sudden rush hit it. Something big was being rammed into it by the shouting mob. "Hurry it up!"

"You can't rush science!" Nevertheless Rodney worked as quickly as he could. Fingers easing the shard closer to the pulsing pulp on the wall socket. He licked his lips, typed on the laptop once more. "It's working…slowly…easy now…oh crap."

"Just pull the damn plug!" Evan snapped, glancing to see the scientist hunched over the laptop. The thing on the wall was grotesque, like a brown, living heart beating in time to the pulsing of the device on the console. The vines were snaking along the ceiling now, and to Evan's horror they were prying at the tiles like fingers. Trying to find a way out and up the spire. "Is that thing sentient? It's going for the spire!"

"What? No, it's a machine! Although Wraith technology is partially organic and we have theorized that it operates with some of their DNA and can be communicated with telepathically much like they communicate with each other and—"

"Don't care!" Evan whirled as the door was violently hurled inwards, crashing onto the table. It effectively blocked the doorway. "Caldwell! Weir! We need help now!" he shouted into his radio. "What's your twenty, copy?"

"Copy that, Lorne, we're on our way but progress is slow. Hold them off until we get there," came Steven's calm voice over the radio. He was advancing with his team up the stairs, with only the lights of their P90s to guide them.

"Copy that, Lorne! I'm on my way but we're bogged down by hostiles!" Elizabeth's voice sounded not at all disturbed but actually delighted. The rattle of gunfire was a constant noise behind her voice.

"Copy that!" Evan sighed. He found it odd how easily he had fallen back into his military life, the lingo, the obedience, the training all coming back to him quickly. Instead of a paintbrush there was a P90 in his hands and it felt right, it felt good and natural.

He knew he should be disturbed by that but he wasn't.

"It's not working the way it should!" Rodney muttered.

"What?" Evan turned back to Rodney. "Hurry it up!"

"I am! There, no…damn it! Damn it! Damn quantum entanglement is making this happen simultaneously so when I cut it here it just gathers more energy from another source through the whoa!" Catching sight of the barrel of the P90 pointed at him made Rodney spin on his knees.

"Get outta the way! We don't have time!" Evan suddenly was standing over him. He aimed his gun at the socket even as the device on the console began to emit a pure matter stream at the ceiling. Tiles were falling, clattering onto the floor. A rush of hot air entered the room as it was exposed to the open sky. The vines shot up towards the spire.

"Are you crazy? You can't!" Rodney scrambled out of the way as the crystal shard shattered and the lap top sparked and sputtered. "It won't work! It will just absorb the impact of high velocity energy and make it into a—"

"You might wanna duck down over there," Evan warned laconically, finger stroking the trigger of the weapon he held.

He fired the gun.


	5. Chapter 5

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black5

_I had died once. Well, twice I guess. Once from being shot to pieces by that first Wraith. Then I had the life sucked out of me by Todd, but he had been forced to revive me and bring me back to life not once, but twice. Twice! I don't think I can really ever forgive McKay for that experience. And now here I was again, having the life choked out of me by Todd._

_Just another day in the life, I guess._

**7:30pm**

John was gasping for air. His fingers were prying uselessly at Todd's as the Wraith gripped him and him aloft like a toy. He could feel his throat closing, his larynx crushing under those long fingers and painted nails when suddenly a thud hit Todd.

"Let go of him! You fucking let go of him!"

Moira swung the log again, slamming it into Todd's back. The Wraith staggered, surprised by the attack. He released John who fell onto the ground, choking and coughing as he clutched his throat. The hot air of the desert never tasted as sweet as his lungs filled once more. Moira swung the log again but Todd grabbed it, wrenched it out of her hands. He backhanded Moira. She flew backwards, landed hard and cried out in pain.

"No! Damn it, Moira, run! You fucking run!" John rasped, moving to his knees but the men grabbed him, held him as he fought to get free. It was all suddenly going to hell and he blamed Moira for not saving herself, for saving him instead and he hated her briefly for that.

"You run! You're the fucking target, not me!" she retaliated, backing up slowly from him. Luring Todd to follow after her with gracefully silent steps. The wind blew hotly on her, sending her messy ponytail into a frenzy of brown, silken strands across her face and she drew her hair away to see Todd smiling at her. "Is that the best you got?" she taunted, even as her body was aching with pain. Even as she knew she had to protect the little life inside her, but John needed help and that was more important right now.

She only prayed that the tiny life inside her would forgive her. If it survived.

"You are defiant, human. I like that. Too bad it won't last much longer." He moved so fast he was a blur. Suddenly he was directly in front of her and he forced her to her knees. Hands on her shoulders as he shoved her down. She winced at the pain as her knees hit the hard dirt. The sky was a swirl of darkness and light, orange and purple and a wide expanse of nothingness that was scarier than even the monster in front of her.

"No, no, no! Let her go! Let her go!" John ordered, struggling fiercely as the men held him back, but he was advancing inch by inch on his knees, lurching towards her as if he could help her somehow.

Todd looked at him. Hands still holding Moira in place, on her knees. He smiled. A feral grin that conveyed all of the hatred that one species could hold for another. That conveyed all the disdain one culture could hold for another. All the pitiless cruelty that humans and aliens both were capable of and took delight in afflicting.

And John knew with sickening clarity what was about to happen.

The bullet hit the air. Speeding at high velocity into its target. Aimed true it struck the pulsing pulp that had been the wall socket. And nothing happened. The thing kept beating. The hum of power was increasing. The device on the wall was glowing.

"What the…" Evan wondered, but spun on his heels as the mob was pushing its way through past the fallen door and the table. He exchanged a look with Rodney. No words were needed. Evan moved to start firing on the mob pouring into the room.

He wondered if he would survive the night. He wondered if the Earth would.

Rodney ran to the console and stared as the device began to emit a stronger beam straight up through the hole in the ceiling. Straight up the spire and into the night sky. A night sky that was utterly dark. The auroras weren't forming here. And the lack of stars made Rodney stare in consternation. Realization as he peered along the beam's trajectory.

The gunfire was a distant noise, the shouts of the mob an echo as his mind furiously worked out what was happening. He had to look away as the beam grew brighter, a stream of pure energy and matter that was being driven into the atmosphere now, into the tear in the rift and would surely rip it to shreds if he didn't stop it in time. But it was already too late as the magnetic field was under assault from the other side.

The room began to shake as the power was accelerating rapidly. "Rodney!" Evan called a warning. Out of bullets now he swung the P90 like a club and so far he was keeping the mob at bay but they were circling round, chanting now about Todd and the end of the world and other nonsense that only pissed him off and made him swing the gun viciously. "Rodney!"

Rodney ran to a telescope and swung it into a man trying to stop him, then swung it skywards. He peered into it, bringing space into focus, into clarity. What he saw was both beautiful and terrible. A nebula was forming, visible as sparks of light and matter that drowned the stars. It was a tiny line at this distance but would only get larger, larger, larger as the beam expanded.

There was a rip in the universe and Rodney knew there was no way to fix it.

"Advance on my mark! Mark!" Steven ordered, and the line of marines quickly filed up the stairwell. Sporadic gunfire could be heard above them and they hastened their steps. Steven tapped his radio. "Lorne, do you read? Lorne, do you copy?" He swore as static filled his ears. "Weir, report!"

"Almost to the last level, sir, but we've encountered…large mob of…heavy…" Her voice was lost in a wave of static. The building shook suddenly but it didn't feel like an earthquake. The stairwell remained in total blackness. There were no emergency lights. No air was circulating either. Every system had been drained dry of all power. The tower was a husk, as dead as an abandoned building.

"Sir! Sir, you might want to take a look at this!"

Steven moved to the marine who was pointing out the window. Darkness had fallen onto not only the casino/hotel but the entire block. Every light was out in the immediate vicinity. There were no flashing neon signs along the casinos. No streetlights to guide motorists. No lights in the restaurants and chapels and small businesses along the road.

"Shit," Steven remarked. He gazed up but couldn't see the top of the spire. He could only see the darkness of the night. A blankness that made him stare in bafflement. There wasn't a single star to be seen, and there were no clouds to block the view of the sky. Only an inky blackness against the blackness of the night that was subsuming all of the light.

"Sir! Hostiles detected two floors above!"

"Gun them down," Steven snarled. The men advanced. Steven kept a firm grip of his Wraith stunner and climbed the steps with them. P90 lights flashed and shone the way. A door swung open. "Down!" he ordered but bullets zinged into the men.

The marines returned fire, crouching on the stairs. A few sported laser guns and the zings of the blue electricity lit the air and their targets. Soon the narrow stairwell was crowded with noise and smoke and still the bullets were being exchanged.

"We don't have time for this. Grenade!" Steven flung the weapon up, towards the attackers.

It exploded mid-air, creating a tremendous bang and flash. Men screamed. A limb went flying past Steven but he didn't care. It didn't belong to one of his men and that was all that mattered. He moved to his feet. "Let's go, double time! Now!"

The men continued their deadly climb.


	6. Chapter 6

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black6

_Looking back I can see now that there was nothing I could have done. Not a damn thing. I worked it out over and over, imagining each different scenario with a different outcome but it all ended the same way. There was nothing I could have done. If only I had listened to Moira. I should have let her tell me what she needed to tell me in the facility. By not letting her tell me I condemned us all. I placed her into that horrible position. I overestimated my own cleverness._

_I sealed her fate. I sealed mine. I sealed the fate of…_

**7:33pm**

John glared. "What about your plan, Todd? What about opening the rift? That ain't gonna happen!" John asserted, trying to distract the Wraith from the inevitable. He ceased struggling; hoping the grip of the men holding him would go slack. He only needed a little loosening and he was certain he could act. But first he had to distract Todd.

Todd's grip remained on Moira but he gazed upon John. "It is happening. Your pathetic bunch of humans won't be able to stop me. Nothing can stop the Wraith. Look! Look up in the sky!" Everyone looked up at his words. The blackness was coming. Inky swaths were blocking the stars. The auroras were fainter now, but gaining once more as their luminosity brightened.

"What could block the stars?" Moira wondered, her voice soft.

"_Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky,_" Todd intoned in a sing-song voice. His voice rising and falling with the melody. "You humans are so advanced in many ways, yet so very ignorant in others. Only the one called McKay could grasp what is happening."

"A dark nebula," Rodney realized as he peered through the telescope. The dark mass was coalescing into a dark cloud with winking points of light which were the stars being blocked by the dust and ionized gas. "It must be being triggered by the beam…no, by the magnetic fields! By the Van Allen belts and the excited protons because they are tearing at it from the other side, the other reality! This could be as large as the Carrington Event! A super solar storm that is creating all of these auroras all over the world and the geomagnetic storm…the other side is generating an energy field once the beam passes through!"

Rodney looked up from the telescope, triumphant that he had figured it all out in record time. Everyone was staring at him, guns momentarily halted. "Don't just stand there! We have to stop this and stop this now before a geomagnetic excursion is precipitated!"

"Could you repeat that? In English," Evan clarified, shaking his head.

"Move!" Rodney shoved past Evan, shoved past the other men, looking round for something, anything he could use. The beam was getting stronger, shooting straight up the spire in a stream of golden light. "We need to break the matter stream! We need something to interrupt it at the source but nothing metallic ah!" He grabbed a plastic chair.

"Rodney, no! You can't!" Evan shouted, realizing.

"I don't have a choice, Evan," Rodney said, a note of sadness in his voice. Resignation colored by resolve as he hoisted the chair. "Stand back!"

He swung the chair towards the device, into the matter stream.

"Can the fucking nursery rhymes and just tell us!" John snapped. He saw Moira flinch at his words but assumed that she was reacting to Todd's iron grip. "Your buddies won't get through this time! McKay will figure it all out and stop them! So while you play your little revenge game your whole fucking species will be obliterated in the sky!" It was a bold boast, an outright lie but it had the desired effect.

Todd snarled. His attention not on Moira but on John. His grip loosened a little, allowing her to move but not to escape, not just yet. She kept her gaze locked on John as he knelt in the dirt, held down by the men around him. His handsome face was forming a smile, a sneer as he glared at Todd. He was seemingly ignoring her as he baited the space alien.

"Ya know we killed them. I killed them," John continued, lacing his words with hatred and arrogance. "I killed every fucking Wraith you put on this planet, and I tortured you, didn't I? How did that feel, Todd? Hmm? Being the last of your disgusting kind and all alone on my planet? Captured and held like a rodent in a cage by us? I bet you didn't even get Celine Dion's autograph, did you?"

Todd growled in fury. He lashed out in anger, but not at John. Because he knew what John was doing. He knew John was trying to lure him away from Moira. He had seen this behavior in humans many times, how the male would try to defend the female, or how the female would pretend to be injured to lure the predator away from the young ones. He was disappointed that John Sheppard had underestimated his intelligence and understanding of human behavior. He would have to teach John Sheppard a lesson he would never, ever forget.

He lashed out in anger.

He lashed out at Moira.

There was a burst of sound. A burst of light as the matter stream split and a ray spread in all directions as the chair interrupted the single beam. Rodney shouted as the plastic chair became hot. It erupted into a melting, liquid mass that slid from his burned hands. At the same time every window imploded, sending shards of glass in every direction.

Rodney fell backwards, landing on the floor but his backpack took most of the impact. He scrounged for his gun and aimed, closing one eye. He shot at the pulsing pulp on the wall socket. The bullet hit and the pulp emitted a high tone like a scream. It flared then died. Fluids were leaking out of it. The pulp slid off the wall with a plop.

Evan ducked, dove as did the mob with them in the observatory. Glass was everywhere. A long shard had impaled one man to the wall and he hung there like a grotesque specimen pinned in an exhibit. His legs were flailing uselessly as his life bled out of him. Evan touched his face, felt it peppered with tiny cuts from the shards of glass that were still flying around, as if defying gravity, as if they have become living things.

The mob was staggering; shouting in fear now not in rage as whatever had controlled them had been broken. They dropped their weapons and stared round, dazed. Injured. Confused by what they saw, ducking out of the way of flying glass and cowering as an ominous hum was sounding outside the ruined room.

There was a sonic boom. The remains of the chair melted and the beam stuttered under the mess. A whirlwind erupted, a violent vortex that churned into the circular room that was wide open to the sky. The wind hurled everything out of it. Chairs and tables were circling, circling, hitting those who didn't duck down in time before the furniture was hurled out of the room.

Consoles were ripped out of the floor and spun, then flew out of the room, plummeting the hundreds of feet to the streets below the observatory. The device was flung outwards, rendered defunct and harmless. The signal had died and the machine flew out of the room silently.

The wind was sweeping everything out of the room, even the glass shards.

Even the bulky telescopes that were bolted to the floor.

Even the people.

Todd smiled.

Todd fed.


	7. Chapter 7

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black7

_I didn't know my heart could be broken by a single look._

**7:34pm**

There was a moment. One moment where John's and Moira's gazes locked and held. A look that conveyed everything that they had never said, but felt nonetheless. A look that spoke volumes of emotion, attachment. Love. It was a look tinged with despair, with longing of what could have been, what might have been and now would never be. But most of all it was a look that told each other everything.

Then the moment was gone.

And Todd fed.

"NO!" John shouted, struggling violently. It took all four men to hold him down, to keep him on his knees. They were keeping him in place as Moira was being drained of her life before his very eyes.

Todd had ripped her shirt and had slammed his palm onto her chest. She gasped, back arching as the adhesive pads on his fingertips took hold, as the sucker bit into her. A surge of the enzyme made her straighten and she was almost able to fight him off her. But then he began to feed on her, draining her of life, of vitality, of strength.

The Wraith's expression was a soft smile, his eyes fluttering in an almost orgasmic rush as he took and took and took, but he turned his head to watch John. To watch the man's anguished look and his suffering and that was almost better than the life he was greedily imbibing.

Moira's head fell back and her eyes fluttered. She had never felt such pain, had never imagined it would be like this. She had imagined what John had suffered at the hands of the Wraith but this was much worse than anything she could have imagined. It was as if every cell was being drained of life, every molecule of liquid was being taken from her She could feel the years slipping away from her. She could feel the march of time quickening as she was forced to age.

Worst of all, she could feel the tiny life inside her fighting and could imagine a tiny scream that made tears sparkle in her eyes.

Moira was dying in front of his eyes. Decades were being taken from her in mere seconds. She was visibly aging and weakening, the years being drained from her. Her youth fading as surely as her long brown hair was turning gray. Her rosy lips were becoming dry and as wrinkled as her face. The light in her brown eyes was slowly vanishing into a void of pain and darkness and misery. Her future was being stolen from her. Stolen from him. All the possibilities were being taken from them both and it was killing John as surely as if he was the one being drained.

It was worse. It was the worst thing imaginable to witness, and John was being forced to watch it, unable to help her. Unable to save her. Unable to do anything at all.

Except watch her die.

"McKay!" Evan shouted, latching onto the doorframe as the whirlwind sucked everything out of the room. Even things bolted down were being torn apart and tossed like toys. People screamed as they flew in circles and then flew out of the room to certain death.

Rodney latched onto an iron beam on the wall and clung, but his legs were flung into the air and he hung there like some living banner. "Did it work?" he shouted, squinting to see past the debris of papers and glass and dirt. The whirlwind swirled and swirled, grabbing everything in its path and hurling it all out of the room.

"Yes! You did it! Just hang on!" Evan replied, trying to move towards the scientist but as he loosened his hold he felt the vortex try to suck him into its path. It was like a mini-tornado and just as deadly, just as violent.

"Tell them! Tell them I saved the world!" Rodney said, meeting Evan's gaze.

"No! You can tell them yourself!" Evan shouted. "This is a stupid way to die!"

"It's not what I expected!" Rodney rejoined.

"Just hang on! How long can this thing last?" Evan wondered, but as another man was swept to his death he knocked into the wall, then into Rodney. The man spun and flew out of the room. The iron bar followed, bending like a plastic straw. Bits of debris followed after them.

So did Rodney, unable to get a firm grasp of what was left. His backpack jumped like it had nothing in it as he flew out of the room and was gone.

"McKay!" Evan shouted again, but he couldn't move to grab the other man. Evan clung to the doorframe for dear life as his feet lifted off the ground and the vortex tried to suck him into the whirlwind but he wouldn't budge, he wouldn't let go. The wind was a screaming monster tearing at him, ripping at his clothes and whipping the remaining glass shards into a frenzy. Evan shut his eyes and prayed.

He prayed it would be quick. He prayed he wouldn't feel a thing. It would be like flying, really. He would be freefalling all the way down and it would be the landing that would kill him, not the flight. It was almost a fitting way to go for a former Air Force pilot. But he didn't want to go. He didn't want to die so he clung to the doorframe and fought with every ounce of strength he could against nature's fury.

His fingers were slipping and just as it felt like his nails would break off one by one the wind abruptly stopped. His feet hit the floor and suddenly he was upright. Evan opened his eyes and stared round at the completely empty room. Not a thing was left in it.

Not a soul, except for him.

Shots.

The hold of the men momentarily weakened. A moment was all John needed. He surged to his feet, wrenching his shoulder but not caring. He struggled violently, slamming his elbow into one man, lashing out with his foot at another to hear the satisfying sound of ribs snapping. He spun and grabbed a third at the throat and head, and efficiently snapped the man's neck.

Carson was running towards them, shooting at the one man left standing.

John careened into Todd and both man and alien flew away from Moira into the dirt. The Wraith was fast, slipping free but John was faster, knowing he couldn't outfight the alien, especially not after a feeding. He slipped out of reach and pivoted, lunging for the gun Carson was tossing him even as the doctor was shooting at the alien. John caught the gun, whirled and fired. Kept firing as Todd staggered, snarled and finally went down.

"No, John! We need him alive!" Carson shouted.

John rushed to Moira, fell to his knees beside her. He cradled her in his arms. "No, no, no, Moira, no! Stay with me, baby, stay with me!"

Moira's gaze was dimming. She had been staring at a stray clump of violets, wondering how they were growing out here in the desert of all places. John was a handsome blur silhouetted against the brilliance of the orange and purple sky. Liquid colors dancing and swirling in a vibrant aurora that dazzled the eyes.

She was glad she hadn't been able to tell him about the baby. She was glad to spare him that additional anguish because she knew she was dying. She knew the baby was dying with her. Tears filled her eyes and she tried to raise a hand to touch John's scruffy face but her limbs were cold, growing colder. Paralyzed by the shock or the enzyme or both. "John," she whispered.

The wind took his name and whisked it away but John had heard her soft voice. He lifted her cold hand to his lips, kissed it. "Moira, no. Please, hold on, baby, hold on," he said, blinking back his own tears. He was staring down at the woman he loved except she appeared decades older and was on the brink of dying in his arms.

And John couldn't take it. He couldn't take it and part of him wanted to run, to scream, to get out of the nightmare but he wouldn't let Moira die alone. He wouldn't leave her.

He wished he could die instead of her.

He wished he could die with her.

He wished he could die.


	8. Chapter 8

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black8

_Moira was... Moira was losing the battle and I couldn't let her just…. Moira was losing the battle and I couldn't let her just slip away from me and I... Moira was… Moira…._

**7:35pm**

Moira's fingers weakly moved against John's scruffy cheek as he held her hand to his face. She could barely feel the stubble. She could barely feel the warmth of his skin. She had barely felt the kiss he had bestowed on her wrinkled, withered hand that didn't even look like it should belong to her. She shuddered, wondering how she did look, but there was only anguish and despair and love in John's green eyes.

"John! We haven't much time!" Carson said, sliding to his knees next to him. The shock in his blue eyes told Moira what she already knew. Decades had been stolen from her. Maybe too many years as she struggled to breathe. As every heartbeat was slowing, slowing. "God help us," the doctor muttered, frozen for a moment.

"John…" Moira whispered. His handsome face was a blur once more. The sky behind him was incredible. The likes of which she had never seen. That no one had ever seen. A celestial catastrophe and light show all in one. She tried to say more but the words died on her lips.

"Hold on, Moira, damn it, hold on!" John urged. "Carson, get her to a hospital now! I'll get Todd and make him cure her! I'll get…" John paused as he turned his gaze to where Todd had been sprawled.

Except that Todd was no longer there.

Evan forced his fingers to release the doorframe. He almost couldn't flex them, so tightly he had been clinging to the wood but at last his fingers obeyed and released the frame. He stared round, at a loss. The abrupt silence and stillness was eerie. The wind had swept the room clean. Not a piece of debris remained. Not a single piece of furniture. Not a single shard of glass littered the floor.

Not a single human being remained, except for him.

The only things remaining were the metal beams of the room, part of the solid walls and most of the ceiling. He walked towards where he had last seen Rodney but a noise made him whirl, grab for his gun but it was gone, torn from him by the maelstrom.

"Lorne! Lorne!" Elizabeth ran into the room, marines at her back. All stopped, stared round. "What happened? What…did you stop it in time?" She looked round for the device. She looked up through the hole in the ceiling to the spire but all was dark.

"Yeah…I think so…McKay. McKay figured it out and intercepted the beam. I don't know if it was in time." Evan's voice sounded oddly calm. He shook his head as if to clear it. "What is it?" he asked, as Elizabeth was looking past him. An expression of wonder was on her face. The same expression was mirrored by the marines.

"What does that mean?" she asked, pointing.

Evan turned to see the blackest sky he had ever seen. But pinpoints of light were coalescing into bright bursts of orange and purple. He stepped cautiously to the edge of the room. The auroras were dancing, becoming brighter and brighter. The observatory trembled under his feet.

"I think that's our cue to go," Elizabeth stated. "Where's Rodney? Major Lorne, where's Rodney?" she repeated. Evan appeared to be in a daze. She touched his arm.

"Huh?" He met her gaze. "He, he didn't make it."

Elizabeth stared. Sorrow lined her beautiful face. "Oh no. I…let's go. We need to salvage what we can. Let's go, major. I'm sure you did all that you could." She tapped her radio. "Caldwell, copy. We're secure. Repeat, we're secure. We're coming to you. No hostiles left standing."

Evan nodded. He began to follow her but paused. He turned back to the sky. He looked down across the city. "My God…" he muttered.

Every single light in Vegas was out.

For as far as the eye could see there was nothing but blackness. There were no streetlights. No city lights. No neon lights. No traffic lights. No headlights from cars. Not even flashing lights from emergency vehicles could be seen. All was darkness, a darkness that spread across Vegas and into the surrounding environs. Across every suburb, every house, every building all the way to the dark horizon and the desert.

It was as if a sea of darkness had swallowed the bright lights of Sin City and had devoured it all, leaving nothing but an empty shell containing nothing electric. All of the electricity had been drained dry. Every light had been extinguished.

Vegas was dark.

"Son of a bitch!" John muttered. He scanned the desert and could just make out the limping, lurching form of the Wraith as it made an escape. Todd was clearly injured but he was healing even as he struggled towards freedom. Drops of his blood littered the ground but they appeared black instead of red against the darkness of the desert sands.

A cackling wheezing could be heard as the Wraith stumbled and staggered. The lights of the sky shone on his long, tangled white hair.

"John! We need him now! Go! Go! I'll get Moira to a hospital to get her stabilized but you need to get him back! Their lives depend upon it! John!" Carson urged. He glanced round praying that he had what he needed in his medical kit but it was back in his car.

The strident Scottish voice jolted John out of his lethargic despair. He turned back to look at Moira. "You stay with me baby, you hear me? You keep fighting! I'll go get Todd and make him cure you make you all better I swear! Don't leave me, Moira! Don't you dare leave me," he ordered, voice low. He reluctantly freed her, giving her over to Carson. He stood, grabbed a gun and checked to be sure it was loaded. "Get her to a hospital now! I'll get that fucker and he will cure her, I swear! Then I will kill him!"

"John…" Moira muttered, trying to move, trying to say more but it was taking all of her strength just to say his name. It was taking all of her stamina to just breathe and keep her heart beating. She stared dimly at the tall silhouette of his form against the brilliant sky and felt tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She couldn't see him anymore. He was fading from her view although he hadn't moved yet. As if he had already met his dire fate.

John knelt, brushed his lips against her forehead, then her lips. Her mouth felt papery, dry, and he suppressed a horrified shudder. Those lips should have been soft and moist, inviting him not repelling him. "Stay with me, Moira! I am going to marry you." There was such determination in his voice that Moira could only nod and stare in shock.

Then he was gone, running into the desert after the Wraith. Quickly he was lost to sight as his black coat and pants made him all but invisible in the night.

Carson and Moira stared after him. "Easy, love, hang on now!" He eased her into his arms, carefully moving to his feet. She was as light as air and that scared him. "Was that a proposal?"

Moira was stunned. She was abruptly alert after the unexpected words from the man she loved. Her vision focusing for a moment until it blurred once more. "I…I don't know…" she whispered.

Everything blurred into an orange and purple aurora that dazzled.

The last thing she saw was the clump of violets on the ground.

Little purple flowers that were blooming, but wilting as the desert killed them, as the heat and sun bled them dry and bleached their color.

Purple flowers that would be dead by dawn.

Dead by dawn.

Dead.


	9. Chapter 9

Violets in Vegas: Man in Black9

_I didn't think anything could be worse than this. Than losing Moira. I was wrong._

**7:36pm**

John ran. He ran like his life depended on it, but it was Moira's life he was determined to save. There was a hitch in his side but he ignored it. He swerved round the scrub, stumbling over unseen obstacles. He ran, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he got closer and closer to Todd who was ahead of him. His ribcage ached. His back hurt. His shoes were scuffed and not made for running but John ran anyway.

John kept a firm grip on the gun. He could feel the knife at his back. He could feel the surge of adrenaline that was propelling him along with fear and despair and anger and he was gaining. But Todd was healing. After such a rich feeding his regenerative powers were quickly healing the bullet wounds and making him stronger. He was faster too. Not quite a blur yet but he soon would be and John would have no hope of ever catching him then.

He stumbled and fell as he tripped over an outcrop he hadn't even seen. He swore, ignoring the pain in his leg, the gash that was bleeding at his knee now. He stood, looked round but he didn't see Todd. Panic made his heart jump but he forced himself to be calm. To be still. To let his military training take over as he scanned the desert for any motion.

Not even the wind stirred the low scrub surrounding him.

He listened for any sound. His own breathing was loud in his ears and he tried to quiet it. He took deep breaths of the warm, windy air. The hitch in his side ached with the exertion, and the beating he had endured was making itself known as his muscles protested the sudden action. He could feel the blood trickling down his knee.

Not even a bug buzzed to break the unending silence.

He ignored all of this, even ignored the tears burning behind his eyes as he stood and stared round. He desperately searched for Todd but all was silent except for the wind. All was dark except for the dancing lights in the sky. It was as if the world was holding its breath, waiting to see what would happen next. Waiting to see if John could do now what he had failed to do in the past.

If he could save the woman he loved. And by saving her save himself.

A coyote howled. It was a lonesome sound in the night. The moon was out of sight now, had sailed away as if afraid to witness the coming destruction and devastation.

John felt a shiver go up his back. He had never felt more alone than at this moment.

Until he turned and Todd was standing right there in front of him. Smiling.

Evan made to follow Elizabeth and the men out of the room. Elizabeth was talking on her radio. Concern in her voice as she replied to Steven. Apparently not all of Vegas had gone dark but all of Nevada as well. It was an unprecedented power outage and the officials were baffled as to the cause of it. Panic was spreading at the show in the sky and without power the only way to communicate were the radios that ran on batteries.

The National Guard was being called in to keep the peace. Looters were having a field day, breaking into stores and casinos. Tourists were angry at having their vacations ruined. No power meant there was no gambling. There were no shows. There were no strip joints operating. The only things you could do were to eat or drink or have sex in the dark.

There was always sin to be had in Vegas.

Something made Evan stop. He turned round. He walked back to the remnants of the room. He moved to the edge to stare down at that sea of blackness beneath him. A few helicopters were swarming round and they were the only lights in the sky. The auroras were fading again. The tower trembled under his feet and he grabbed a metal beam before he fell.

"Lorne? Come on! This structure isn't entirely stable!" Elizabeth called. She couldn't understand the man's odd reluctance to leave. "Lorne! We've got work to do! It's not over yet, I'm afraid! We're needed back at the facility! Woolsey's calling in every squad to regroup. There's nothing more we can do here!"

"I know, I just…" He stared at the sky. The black mass Rodney had described was dissipating. Noise rumbled like thunder but it wasn't thunder. Evan felt a sick feeling in his gut. "I think we were too late," he muttered. The tower shook again with an odd vibration that came not from the earth but from the sky.

"Lorne, let's go! Now! That's a direct order!" Elizabeth snapped. She was trying to get through to the man. She wondered if she would have to drag him out of there by force.

"I'm coming!" Evan turned to go, but something had caught his eye. He turned back to see one of the metal beams that was bent outwards and down. A light from one of the helicopters had briefly danced along it.

The strap of a backpack was suspended there.

John drew the gun and fired.

Todd snarled, and lashed out with a vicious backhand. It sent John flying backwards into the air. He landed hard, the breath knocked out of him. The gun flew from his hand. Before he could get to his feet Todd was on him. Savagely punching him. Gold nails raked across John's cheek, drawing blood.

John fought. Swinging his fist into Todd's ugly angular face. He kicked and squirmed out from under the alien, shoving himself to his feet but Todd was so quick. Too quick as the alien swung out again and hit John in the side. John spun with the blow and fell backwards.

He stumbled and fell into the crater. Dirt plumed all around him as he landed.

"John Sheppard," Todd crooned, following him. The Wraith smoothly jumped into the crater and grabbed the human. "Such defiance. There is nothing as sweet as your defiance, except your surrender to me. And you will surrender to me."

"Fuck you," John said. Todd shoved and John found himself flying through the air again.

John fell to the ground, only to be hauled to his knees by Todd. The Wraith leaned close. His fetid breath made John grimace, gag. "Fuck you," John repeated. Blood was oozing down his face. His shoulder was wrenched at an awkward angle. His ribs ached. His knee was bleeding. His head was aching and he felt a little dizzy.

He almost wanted to give up, to give in. If Moira was gone what was the point of continuing anyway? But if she wasn't gone, if there was the slimmest chance that John could save her he had to try. He had to try, or at least die trying.

If he had to go down he would go down fighting all the way.

"I told you, John Sheppard. I don't swing that way either," Todd reminded, freeing the man. He smiled. He found himself amused by this human. It was almost a shame to have to kill him. He would make an excellent pet, perhaps even better than a meal. But Todd realized that John Sheppard would never bend to anyone's will but his own. He was too strong and could resist mind control. He was too stubborn to be fooled for long. He was too arrogant to realize the Wraith were superior creatures and now would rule this planet.

"Bite me," John retorted, trying to keep his balance on his knees as one hand slid round to his back.

Todd chuckled. "I was going to kill you, John Sheppard. But I will let you live and bask in your utter despair. There is nothing sweeter than your every agony, your every anguish. I will savor your misery, every drop of it. And only then, when you beg me to kill you will I decide to end your miserable life."

"I see. Well, okay then."

"Okay then?" Todd asked, tilting his head. He was unfamiliar with the phrase.

"Yeah. If you won't end mine…I'll end yours."

John drew the knife.

He lunged.

He stabbed.


End file.
